


Against The Grain

by Remy_Etienne_Creed



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual mpreg, M/M, Mission Fic, Multi, Pack Family, work pack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-18 16:57:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8169197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Remy_Etienne_Creed/pseuds/Remy_Etienne_Creed
Summary: Love and life are confusing things no matter where you go. Add the Alpha dominated environment of the FBI and you get an even bigger mess. Amidst this the BAU work pack tries to find their place in all this madness as Alphas, Betas and Omegas.





	1. Blue Bloods

**Author's Note:**

> Love Criminal minds but my first fic for them. I own nothing. Enjoy!

"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children."  
\--Nelson Mandela

"C'mon pretty boy, it wouldn't even take an hour. Cappuccinos, mochas, lattes. We both know you can't resist coffee. "

Spencer Reid snatched his pen back from Derek Morgan almost causing the stack of paperwork he was currently muddling through to fall. It flustered him even further that Morgan was the one to catch it. He was suddenly far too aware that he was speaking to an Alpha. This had been happening more and more often recently. It made him self conscious in a way he'd never been in front of Morgan before and Spencer wasn't sure if he liked it. "I already have coffee.", Spencer nodded to what they both knew to be fairly mediocre coffee that had probably gone cold.

"You aren't seriously going to sit here and tell me that's enough for you. You've barely touched it."

"No, you would never believe me. That doesn't change the fact that I can't though. I'm still behind on my paperwork. So are you, by the way.", he tried very hard not to look up as he spoke in order to appear uninterested. In truth, Spencer didn't want to see the sheepish look on Morgan's face right now. He was very interested in that, likely far more than he should be.

"Yeah, about that, what are the odds you might help me with that out of the goodness of your heart?" Morgan was leaning back against Spencer's desk now, any seriousness the conversation may have once held lost.

This was good. This was the Morgan he was used to, relaxed and teasing him. None of this Alpha and Omega nonsense. Friends, coworkers. The air felt light again instead of heavy and charged. Spencer finally felt comfortable looking up at him when he replied. "Incredibly slim to none at all."

Morgan huffed, "So cold, Reid. It's that or we get coffee together, your choice."

" 'Fraid not my visions, you won't have time for either today. JJ's got a case for us. We're needed in the briefing room pronto."

"Garcia!", Spencer practically jumped out of his skin causing Morgan to have to rescue his papers yet again.

Morgan was still all smiles but Reid could tell he'd been taken by surprise too by the slight stiffness in his hands as he handed the papers back to Spencer. "How long have you been standing there, baby girl?", ever relaxed, his voice betrayed nothing. Spencer had always been jealous of that composure all Alphas just seemed to be born with.

"Long enough.", Garcia sing-songed with a twinkle in her eyes that was different from her usual one somehow. She shot Morgan a look that Spencer couldn't read. Unlike Garcia's sudden appearance that didn't phase him; those two had always had their secrets. Today though Morgan didn't seem to be responding to it and Garcia let it slide; there was a case to be solved after all. "We best hurry it up before the boss man makes us." Sure enough, Hotch was already looking expectantly at them from the doorway, his foot tapping impatiently. Their pack leader's steely gaze was enough to make even Morgan jump up.

The others were already seated and starting to look through the files when Spencer, Garcia and Morgan sat down, strangely she didn't sit between them as she usually did. Spencer dismissed it as him over profiling. Prentiss gave them all a quick smile as was her customary greeting. Rossi nodded to Morgan with a slight smile, an Alpha greeting with a fond twist. His smile grew as he looked at Garcia, everyone loved a mid level Beta. When he turned to Spencer, Rossi's smile grew warm and gentle with an affectionate glow in his eyes. Truthfully, Spencer found this to be a little patronizing but he was used to it by now. He knew Rossi didn't mean to offend him, that was just how he had been taught to treat omegas. As the oldest pack member, and an Alpha, it was no surprise that his mannerisms could sometimes be old fashioned. The world was a very different place than it was when he first joined the BAU. Hotch's greeting was merely a look of disapproval for having held up the briefing. JJ was too busy pinning up a picture of a staggeringly beautiful boy to even notice them come in.

Garcia whistled and was given a reprimanding look from Hotch with no real heat behind it; she blushed and gave him an apologetic look, playing along with it out of respect. She knew Hotch secretly loved her antics just like the rest of the pack did. She sat up a little straighter as if trying to be more professional but said, "So who's the mini god?"

"This is Terrance Greco of Snowfall, North Dakota, 14 years old and unpresented. He's been missing for 19 hours now.", JJ answered causing Garcia's smile to melt away.

Morgan shook his head, "Not even presented yet, I don't think I'll ever get over what monsters people can be."

"Good, if you ever do then you'll know it's time to leave.", Rossi replied.

"Wait, he's been missing for 19 hours? Why are we just hearing about this now? Missing Persons cases can get sticky where teens are concerned, yes, but nearly a full day? That's pushing it, even the most trusting of parents would be frantic to find him.", Emily pointed out what everyone had been thinking.

Spencer frowned as he looked at the boy's picture, he didn't look like a particularly troubled teen but one of the many things this job had taught him was that pain came in all shapes and sizes. "Maybe not if Terrance had a history of running away. His parents might have felt there was no cause for alarm if they felt certain he would be back."

"That's the odd part,", JJ sighed, "His parents haven't reported him missing at all. A friend of his, Zeke Kasey, went to the police when Terrance didn't show up for school yesterday. We're only just hearing about it because Snowfall's police department only reached out for outside help a few hours ago."

The team sat in stunned silence. The parents hadn't been the ones to report their own child was missing. It was pretty safe to assume this case would be anything but typical. Unsurprisingly, the first to speak was Hotch, that slightly unnerving composure so commonly found in Alphas was doubled in their pack leader. Even such a depressing and confusing new development didn't phase him for long. "Why would they wait that long when a boy's life was on the line? His lack of a clear second gender would classify him as a child in the eyes of the law despite most people considering 14 to be a teenager. That should be enough to force a police department's hand regardless of whatever history of teen runaways the town has. Did they not take Kasey seriously?"

Hotch's voice seemed to startle JJ for a moment. Prior to that comment he had been uncharacteristically quiet during the briefing. "There are a few reasons for it, actually. For starters, Snowfall is a very small town, the population is just over 4000. Their police department is small and unorganized; it likely took them a while to even put together enough of a case to present to us. The good news is they don't seem opposed to our assistance at all. The bad news, they didn't think they'd need it. This isn't the first time Terrance has been kidnapped.", she explained with a hint of sadness.

Garcia choked on her coffee. "Excuse me?! You're telling me that that little angel has been kidnapped more than once?! Where the hell are this kid's parents?!"

"If the police didn't see any cause for alarm perhaps they didn't either.", Spencer provided an answer as it was important to think through every angle but even he was frowning. True, they didn't know anything about the family's situation but it was hard to be objective and withhold judgement on the parents given the little information they had on them.

Morgan scoffed, "I'm not buying it. Parents tend to be more protective of their children if they feel like they might have lost them, don't they? That holds true even if it was to an illness or injury let alone a violent crime. You're more protective of Jack now, aren't you Hotch? "

"Woah, woah, I agree, the parent's lack of involvement is certainly odd but we barely have any information. Don't go jumping to conclusions just yet.", Rossi, ever the voice of reason, spoke up, his patented 'damn young alphas' expression on his face.

Morgan calmed a bit but still didn't seem entirely mollified, "All I'm saying is that if that were my son I'd want him under my supervision 24/7 after a kidnapping."

Spencer was glad to know he wasn't the only one struggling to remain objective. That would've just been too terribly Omeganine. It was expected his "fragile" heart would waver when children were involved. Looking around him, Spencer was pleased to see he seemed to be having less trouble than many of his packmates. Omega or not, Spencer considered himself one of the toughest of the BAU agents. Mentally, anyway. Backing up his opinion, Morgan and Prentiss, both Alphas, seemed to be struggling the most with objectivity. (Garcia was always more effected than the others so he didn't give her reaction too much thought.) Hotch just stared at the blown up picture pinned to the board all the more intensely, hardly a reaction.

"There had to be some kind of protection they could have put the boy under if he was at such high risk.", Prentiss reasoned, "Wouldn't they have wanted that for their child? Moreover, wouldn't the local police department have wanted that? Having the same child kidnapped more than once can't have made them look good. In a town that small, something like this would cause them to lose the people's trust quickly, wouldn't it?". She looked to JJ for answers on that. Having grown up in cities like Rome she could hardly claim to truly understand the small town attitude.

JJ frowned at the boy's picture thoughtfully. "You're right. I'd thought of that myself." She sighed as she flipped through the file in her hands. "It feels like we're missing a piece here."

"The parents.", Rossi conceded. "I'm not suggesting we jump to any conclusions about them, just admitting they don't follow any typical pattern we've seen. We need to know them better. For starters, their last name sounds familiar, doesn't it?" 

"Eliseo and Maria Greco, both born in Italy. Maria's family was wealthy but nothing noteworthy. But Eliseo is the heir to the Greco Arms fortune. They specialize in long range rifles. They've fallen out of popularity here but are still in high use overseas. Europe. Asia."

"Well there's a possible motive.", Morgan suggested," The Greco family would certainly have the money to meet the unsub's demands."

"But where's the ransom note?", Rossi frowned.

Hotch closed the file and decisively set it down. "That's priority number one. As is we barely even have a case here. Wheels up in 20, let's try to piece something together here."


	2. Blue Bloods Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the team lands in Snowfall they start to realize how very different this case is going to get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if it seems like maybe I overdid it with all the description and going into detail about how beautiful everything is. I just already had this town in my mind full of rich, beautiful elites. It’s a little bubble of high society. And the BAU has entered it and are just like....wtf.

The town had no airport but it did have an air strip and a hangar with a surprising number of private jets in it. The team had tried to work on the case during the flight over but with so little to go on there wasn't really anything they could do. They doubted they would have taken the case at all if they hadn't been terrified about what might happen to the boy if they didn't. Even with their involvement it was hard for them to be optimistic as they stepped off the plane.

They were surprised to find who had to be the town's chief of police waiting for them, standing at the edge of the strip with a warm smile. None of the team could claim he was anything like they would have expected. He was a High Beta, not so unusual at all really but in such a small town of course they would have expected an Alpha, communities like these tended to favor traditionalism. What baffled them was the way he looked. He was young, very young. At the oldest he could be maybe 30. 4 years older than their very own little genius. They had expected him to be old, most people in small towns like this were. But here he was, unbonded, unmated in the prime of his life, living in a town where there were likely no higher opportunities for him. He was stunning too, he'd have done well in a city. His honey brown hair hung down to his waist, beautiful yet highly impractical. He was a world of difference from the professional BAU agents, sharply dressed, the women, the only ones with hair like his, had theirs in severe buns and ponytails, ready to get to work at any second. The man before them wasn't even wearing a uniform. He wore something obviously more expensive, a deep brown cashmere sweater with khaki's and a long- probably designer- coat. His badge, pinned to the jacket, was the only real thing that showed he really was a cop and not a friendly teacher at a private school. And he really did appear friendly, the agents couldn't help but wondered if it hurt to smile like that.

Hotch spoke first as the chief of police was clearly too busy smiling at them. "Good afternoon. Snowfall's chief of police?", he asked, voice serious, unamused by this man's cheerful demeanor, this was a case not a picnic.

"Yes, hello!", the man extended a hand warmly, seemingly -or perhaps purposefully- oblivious to the displeasure in Hotch's tone. He gave them all a somehow even brighter smile. "I'm Kevin Cross, the chief of police and welcome to Snowfall. I only wish you'd found us under better circumstances." Hotch still hadn't accepted the handshake but it didn't seem to phase Cross as he just smiled and waited, hand still extended.

Eventually Hotch gave in and shook Cross' hand but didn't return his smile. He was too busy already working the case in his mind. "Agent Aaron Hotchner of the BAU team." He did not have to say he was also their Pack leader; it was obvious. The maybe too firm handshake, the tone, the professionalism. This was an Alpha who was used to being in charge. "This is my team: Agent David Rossi, Agent Derek Morgan, Agent Emily Prentiss, our technical analyst Penelope Garcia, Agent Jennifer Jereau and Doctor Spencer Reid." He announced them all by gender hierchy which was normal procedure despite their own personal pack hierchy being based on performance and responsibilities. It was another way they maintained their professionalism; no one needed to know anything about the inner workings of their Pack more than the obvious such as Rossi being Pack Elder and Hotch being the Pack Leader. This was to be expected and so they all nodded in greeting in their turn not even having to listen for their name any longer.

What they had not expected was for Cross to come and shake each of their hands individually. They all held their breaths when he got to Reid but he shook his hand just as warmly as he had everyone else with that bright smile and simply stepped back. Well, that was a relief for certain. He hadn't said a word about Reid looking awfully young to be a doctor or even worse still pointing out that he was an Omega which, unfortunately, had happened before in small towns like this. Well, it seemed even the people they were to be working this case with were unusual. 

"Well, I'm guessing it's probably a lot colder than you folks are used to down in D.C. There's no use letting you all freeze, might as well make our way back to the police station." He spoke of it as if he were leading a tour group back to a bed and breakfast. "Oh, and I had some of the team drive up the two SUVS for your use early this morning. Black just like you requested". He handed the keys to two Cadilliac Escalades to Hotch before pointing to them, parked about 50 yards or so from the airstrip. The team couldn't help but stare. Escalades were a classic choice for government vehicles but to be honest they really hadn't expected that from a town with a population just over 4000. "You can just follow my car to the station so you'll know your way on your own. Trust me, it won't take you all long to know this city as well as I do. The neighborhoods are a different animal though." With that he walked off and got into what looked to be and WAS a Porsche with police lights perched precariously on top. "Oh and don't worry about putting on your police lights. You won't need them." , he called back before starting his car. What type of town was this?

Even Hotch looked a bit shocked before he turned to his Pack. "Alright, Rossi, Prentiss and JJ come with me. Morgan, you take Reid and Garcia. " And with that he handed off the keys to Morgan and started walking away, leaving no room for argument.

The drive through town to the station did not help with their confusion toward the place and frankly, neither did the station itself. It was a small town yes, but lavish, ridiculously so. The grass along the street was lush and green already but despite this was being watered by sprinklers periodically. All the streetlamps appeared to be made of solid brass and clearly had actual glass encasing their bulbs, imitating gaslight. Not a single one was so much as cracked, on the contrary they were almost impossibly polished. The buildings were all columns and marble steps and not just the town hall. They were all gorgeous but seemed incredibly out of place. Cross had been right, they hadn't needed their lights. The few cars they had passed were sports cars, luxury SUVS and at least one limousine. The agents were quite happy once they parked in front of the police station. 

The station itself was less grand, thankfully, than the other buildings but they saw now Cross had spoken of it correctly. It looked exactly like some quaint little bed and breakfast. It was a small two story brick building with cheerfully painted robins egg blue shutters on the windows. And for some reason it had an immaculate garden complete with wild roses and a fountain. The BAU agents could not help it. They stared. Open jawed. All professionalism out those happy little windows. What the hell sort of town was this?!

"Well, this is her, our modest little home.", Cross chirped, completely ignoring or oblivious to the mood. He simply smiled and held the door open for them." 

The agents didn't know what to expect inside. Once they all filed in and had a chance to look around they realized they really hadn't. It was grand, sure, all the desks made of what appeared to be mahogany and the floor was plushily carpeted in a rich golden color. But it was much smaller than it had appeared from the outside. And even more surprisingly, all the station's visible computers looked to be at least 10 years old or older. The girl at the front desk was even using a mouse attached to her computer by a wire. All while she sat in a chair of polished satin and mahogany, also not in a uniform instead dressed for a business meeting.

This police force must double as a modeling troupe because she too was shockingly lovely just like Cross. She was a Low Level Omega with bright red hair, styled in a bob that was last seen in the 1960s curling outward. She wore a silk violet blouse and a tight linen skirt with very impractically high heels for a policewoman, polished to shine. Her lips were red and glossy. She wasn't even wearing a badge. Hers rested in front of her on the table so, presumably, it would not wrinkle her blouse. She even had recently manicured nails. She stopped tapping them on the desk at the sound of the door closing. She looked up with big hazel eyes. "Oh, hello Sherieff Cross. The special team we requested help us is already here?", she sounded young, maybe even younger than Reid. 

Cross gave her a ridiculously fond smile, as if he were her proud father. "Their plane was early.”, he replied, shrugging off his coat and hanging it up on a coat rack the Pack hadn't noticed before. The thing was practically dripping in designer shades of black and brown. Unlike the girl, Cross opted for his badge removing it from his jacket and pinning it to his sweater. He then turned back to the BAU agents to introduce her. "This is one of our deputies, Yvette Williams." 

"How do you do?". She gave them all a polite smile and nod but was nowhere near as brightly friendly as Kevin Cross.

"Well I'll give you all the tour." Cross announced. "The cells are upstairs. They're only accessible through that elevator over there which you'll need a key to use. If you need to do so feel free to ask me, Yori or any other deputy. You shouldn't need to though. They're all empty right now and usually are. And over there is the sitting room that we use as an interrogation room. And out here is just common space where the deputy's have their desks. My office is tucked in the back over near the elevator. Like I said, it's humble but it's ours." 

"Is one of them Zeke Kasey?", Prentiss asked, looking over at two boys seated in the interrogation room. They couldn't be older than 16 but they were mated. Mated and flaunting it. Even if the scent weren't hanging in the air and there wasn't a dark, recently reapplied bond mark on the Omega’s neck the two were huddled so close they were practically in each other's lap. Prentiss couldn't help but smile, young love and the unshakable over confidence of a teenager. That's how teens should be, not having to worry about being kidnapped all the time. One of the boys' hair was a dark chestnut and the other's was strangely silver. Both were shockingly pale. That must be what living in the North all your life does, she thought. They seemed like nice enough boys. Perhaps they had been a bright spot in Terrance Greco’s life. She hoped for that so badly. 

"Yes indeed.", Kevin Cross said with a smile. He was an extraordinarily chipper and friendly man. He was someone it was hard to really dislike but whose personality could be a bit much sometimes, especially in his line of work. "That's them. Zeke Kasey and his boyfriend, Kendall Kent.", Cross' smile melted into a frown, his face gave away far too much for a policeman, that couldn't have served him well, "Poor boys. They've been here for hours now. I'm sure you folks might not understand this, but in a town as small as Snowfall, everyone knows everything about everyone. You can't mow your lawn without someone knowing about it here. So I can tell you for a fact, if you need to know more about Terry, these two are your best bet. You won't find anyone who knows more about him than them. Those three boys have been friends for years. They're like Snowfall's very own three musketeers. I myself got to know them pretty well a few years back. I used to be Terry’s tutor. They're good boys and they really care about him. Especially Zeke. You can trust what they say." 

My, he was a chatty one.

Hotch cleared his throat, getting Cross' attention before he spoke. "Thank you Mr. Cross I'm sure they'll be very helpful. We'll make sure to interview them as thoroughly as possible so we can get the best possible start. In fact, I'd like to start immediately. Can you show me where my team can set up?" 

Kevin Cross blinked for a moment, seemingly stunned into silence by such directness. He recovered splendidly though with a genuine, if shaky, smile. "Of course. We've prepared a room for you. Everything we have is already in there for you. We want to make it very clear that we're eager to work with you to get Terry back. We don't want to get in your way. You all are the experts. We're more than happy to just be your oars and let you be our rudder. Whatever you say we go with." 

Rossi returned Cross' smile this time, and it was surprisingly genuine as well. "And we appreciate that. You wouldn't believe how rare departments like yours are, Kevin." 

Cross brushed a long lock of his hair behind his ear before responding in earnest, "Well, we don't care much for glory here. We just want Touga back where he belongs.". He stopped in front of a small door, turning back to the agents, "Ah! Here we are!". Cross pulled an actual set of keys out of his pocket, something a few of the BAU agents raised an eyebrow at. This whole department really was in a whole other era. As Cross unlocked the door he turned back to them, "Now, it's a little small. I wish we could offer you more but we're a small department; we don't have too much more.", he gave a nervous laugh as he pushed the door open, " Well, we're all quite comfortable here. I hope you all will be too. It's a bit cozy but it gets the job done." 

The BAU agents entered the room after Hotch, as usual. They looked around; it really was small...and kind of dusty but from the look on Cross’ face this really was the best they could do. So they smiled at him and began to unpack their laptops. What else could they do but make do? They'd certainly made do with worse. Yes, it was a bit cramped and windowless but it was a comfortable tempature and there was a large table of cheerful wood and chairs with little cushions. It was certainly fuctional. Nothing to complain about.

"Is there anything you can think of you need right now?", Cross was clearly actually concerned. How nice. 

Garcia raised her hand. "Yes actually. What's your wifi situation?"

"Oh we don't have that. We get our internet through cable.", he pointed to a cable jack at the back of the room. 

"...Great.", Garcia replied through gritted teeth, trying not to appear too horrified. 

Cross did not seem to notice or was quite good at playing dumb. "Well then, I suppose I'll leave you all to it. Oh, and a bit of advice, Kendall can get pretty protective of Zeke. Just a heads up. Don't hesitate to ask for anything, you know where to find me." Kevin gave them all a final smile before finally leaving the agents to their work.

As usual, Hotch didn't waste a second. "So given what little we have here interviews are our priority right now. As is we can't do anything with this. We need to fill in the gaps in this case as quickly as possible; Terrance may not have much time left. Our best outlooks right now are Zeke and Kendall. Kendall is a very young Alpha with his Omega in a time of very high stress likely for the first time in their matehood. He's going to be on high alert and hormonally on edge. We need to placate him and convince him we are not a threat. No Alphas are to go near them; I want an Omega and a Beta. Reid, JJ this one is yours." 

The two agents looked at each other with a smile and nod. They'd become quite the interview team. Reid logical and objective, JJ soft and reassuring. They called it Mom Cop/Spock Cop. 

Hotch barely waited for their nods before going back to the plan, "Our next best option is Kevin Cross. He's got knowledge of Terrance’s history and his family. No matter how slight what he knows is valuable to us. Remember how he said everyone knows everything about everyone one? Well, we need him to tell us everything about Snowfall. Odds are we won't run across anyone with better knowledge of it than him. Rossi, I want you on him; you two seem to share a few personality traits so he's far more likely to trust you than any one else here." 

"On it." Rossi answered, already heading toward the door to go find Cross. He really didn't mind this assignment. He liked the man even if he was a bit unorthodox. 

Hotch simply nodded to Rossi before continuing, " I know this may be a long shot but we have got to speak to the parents; that's the most important step right now. They've been very evasive of the police's attempts to communicate so far but we have to go try and get them to talk to us. Even if this takes some intimidation. So, Morgan, you and I will take this one. Garcia, Prentiss, see what you can do here. Set up for us. We need a clear account of what we already have and I need you to wring out anything else you can from it. JJ, Reid, help them if you get done with Kendall and Zeke before Morgan and I are back. And hurry, Yagari's running out of time."

Garcia was already working on hooking her laptop up to the internet. It looked like she would have to make do with only one laptop while Prentiss would have to do without. She sighed as she worked. She would just have to make do. With such little to work with she had been brought along as a researcher which would likely prove paramount to this case. She was the lifeline of this one and she had to be ready when they needed her whether she was stuck in the 90s or not.

Prentiss didn't seem to mind the lack of technology and was already too engrossed in her task to notice Garcia bustling around setting things up. She worked fast and was already organizing the meager contents of the case file into different orders on the table that only made sense to her so far.

Seeing his pack members work so deligently on their own, Hotch had no reservations about leaving right away. This interview might take a good chunk of their already far too limited time. He grabbed his briefcase and was about to head out when he suddenly turned back to JJ and Reid. "Try to be gentle with them but if you need anything push as hard as you have to. We have a lot of information missing and not much time to gather it in." , he advised. With that he left with Morgan hot on his trail.

Morgan suddenly stopped in front of Reid and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Good luck, pretty boy. You got this.", he said kindly before rushing off to catch up with Hotch. He threw a hurried, "Good luck to you too, JJ", back over his shoulder.

Reid blinked in confusion but eventually replied, "You too.", a moment too late for Morgan to hear it. Huh. Since when did Morgan wish him luck for an interview? It clearly wasn't meant as an insult by the tone of his voice. Odd. Spencer pushed the thought to the side as JJ lead him by the arm toward the sitting room where the two teenagers were waiting to be questioned. 

If it wasn't JJ, Spencer would have objected; he was not an Omega who needed to be escorted. As it was though, JJ was probably the closest person to him and likely always would be so she could get away with quite a bit more than anyone else. Given the look she was currently giving him she had figured that out too. Reid sighed, knowing he would have to address it. He didn't know quite what the look meant, only that it was supposed to be scandalous. "What?",he finally asked.

JJ laughed. "Oh, nothing. It's just that Derek seems to be quite concerned for you. Any reason you can think of for that?", she flashed him a knowing smile before realizing HE likely didn't know.

Of course it was about that. For some reason thinking about it made Spencer nervous so he instead dropped his attention to the little information they had been given about the boys even though he had memorized it 30 minutes ago. She was still staring at him. He sighed before responding, eyes locked on the papers, "He knows I don't have the best track record with teenagers and probably thought I would need a bit of extra confidence. After all, we can't afford to mess up with them." 

JJ scoffed, "Please. You've done dozens of interviews. You can handle two kids." JJ didn't buy Spencer's theory any more than he did. She let it go once she reached the door to the sitting room. There was time for that later. She went over to a one-way mirror, getting a closer look at the boys. She beckoned Spencer over before realizing he was practically already beside her. "What do you think, Mom Cop/Spock Cop?"

Reid barely glanced at the two before nodding. This was their speciality. "Agreed. I'll focus on Kendall, you focus on Zeke ?" 

"Actually, I think you could get more out of Zeke.”

Reid considered this for a moment before challenging her, "Kendall is territorial right now, there's no one who could be less threatening than a High Level Omega. Which leaves the nurturer for the Omega and Zeke will need to be handled even more delicately than he normally would in an interview. That's your strong suit, JJ. I could ruin this by being too harsh with Zeke." 

JJ nodded; he had some fair points. But as she looked at the young Omega on the other side of the window she couldn't help but be reminded of Spencer. There was just something about him. She had a feeling Zeke would open up to Reid far more than they could expect. "All the more reason you should focus on him. A territorial young Alpha like Kendall would be happier with another Omega talking to his mate than a Beta. Even a Low Level like me is a challenger to an Alpha like this. And as for the nurturing, look at Zeke again more closely. I think Kendall would be the one to benefit from that." 

Reid did look. Although Zeke seemed very submissive towards Kendall , leaning in to him, displaying his neck, occasionally sitting in his lap, behavior seemed to be where Zeke’s traditionally Omeganine traits ended. Yes, he did look the part, he was delicate and slight, dressed in one of those oversized sweaters that went slightly past the wrist to show off his delicate frame but he was pretty tall. He looked to be about only an inch shorter than his Alpha. It wasn't common to see such an unsubstantial height difference in a bonded Alpha/Omega pair. And instead of the subdued, natural colors that were popular for Omegas today Zeke’s hair was a bright silver, it looked nice with his pale complexion but it was hardly average. His eyes were so strange a blue they seemed nearly lavender. The most unusual of his features Reid had been too far away to see clearly but now that he did he couldn't help but be a bit shocked. Zeke was sporting a detailed and rather large lavender neck tattoo. A tattoo? Omegas did not get tattoos. Society thought it a shame to mar such important and vulnerable skin and they had gradually fallen out of popularity. Anyone sporting a tattoo now was almost certainly an Alpha or Beta. Definitely if the tattoo was so large and in such a visible place. Kendall didn't seem to mind it. Perhaps there was more to these two than met the eye. 

"Definitely not your traditional Omega." JJ commented. "Remind you of anyone else? Zeke will trust you more than me Spence. Yes, you're another Omega but more importantly you're another Omega like him.", she pointed out.

Reid wasn't really seeing the likeness that JJ was. There didn't seem to be many simalarities at all between them. To Reid their single shared characteristic was being "non traditional" Omegas but that didn't mean they were anything alike at all. Zeke was 15 years old and already mated and bonded. Reid had never even shared a heat before at 26 years old. No, there was no doubt in Reid's mind that he and Zeke were very different types of Omegas. But JJ seemed thoroughly convinced and Reid tried his best to always trust her so he nodded, submitting to her plan. 

JJ smiled happy to have both gotten her way and witness the trust her occasionally neurotic best friend had in her. "You won't regret this. This is going to work Spence, I promise." 

Reid tried not to let himself doubt it. He had always taken stock in her promises. Why should now be any different? "Yes, yes, mother knows best and all that." He really did try not to roll his eyes. Oh well.

JJ mock gasped, "Why Spencer Reid, are you calling me old?!" 

"Of course not," Reid replied mock drily as he looked at his watch. "We need to get this started.", he observed, pulling open the door to the sitting room, "After you, Mother Dear."


End file.
